Tarnished bronze. Joe Paterno’s statue should be taken down from the Penn State campus. The reason is simple. Statues are erected to give honor to a person for his or her lifelong achievements. Removing the statue does not deny history, it simply removes Paterno as a person to be venerated. The only way that statue should remain in place is if it could somehow be permanently labeled: “Enabler of Child Molestation.” Or else replace the statue with one of Paterno hanging his head in shame. Except he didn’t do that, did he?

Bruce, Fort Collins

Kiz: I have been lucky enough to visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. Both are powerful landmarks of U.S. history. If Penn State wants to teach important lessons, then the rise and fall of Paterno is a story that should be told forever. We build statues to heroes we don’t know. Why? Because humans make mistakes, some of them small, some of them unforgivable.

Thoughtfulness appreciated. Ordinarily, I read your column with a sense of calm and contentment as you take us on another tirade against inept sports management, the travails of our luckless baseball team or the shenanigans of overpaid athletes. Your column on the Paterno statue was different. I believe you understand that the way we must balance the magnificence of Paterno’s contributions to football with the enormity of the crime. I appreciate your insight into this tragedy and hope your words will help with the healing and the growth. Thank you so much.

Mark, Colorado Springs

Kiz: Operating under the delusion he was bigger than the law, Paterno allowed children to suffer in an unconscionable way. In his own, selfish, twisted, horribly misguided way, however, Paterno was a coach trying to protect his team. The job of university president Graham Spanier was to do what’s right for Penn State. That’s why his inaction is so appalling. This scandal is too big to be held by the walls of a football stadium. So I want to ask folks across the country clamoring to shut down the Nittany Lions football program: If you had a child attending Penn State, would you remove your student from the school, halting tuition payments as a form of protest? How far would you go to inconvenience your own family to make a statement?

Let heads from the top roll. Given the fact the NCAA will impose a stiff penalty for Penn State’s lack of institutional control, what action do you think is appropriate?

Dennis, Grand Junction

Kiz: You can’t throw the NCAA rule book far enough to combat criminal activity. But rather than settling for punishment of players on the football team, let’s see if the NCAA has the guts to go after Spanier and suspended athletic director Tim Curley with a lifetime ban from working at an NCAA member institution. Start the punishment at the top. Will there be TV bans and scholarship losses for the football team? I’d put the chances of that happening at 99.9 percent. But a death penalty for the Nittany Lions would only harm young people who can bring Penn State back from the abyss way faster than self-serving NCAA honchos ever could.

No “D” in Broncos. There are not one, but two I’s in the name of Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams. There are no I’s in team. Me, me, me, me! Does Williams have any guaranteed salary?

Jim, Aurora

Kiz: Peyton Manning will be a major upgrade at quarterback. But, if you believe defense wins championships, then the front seven of the Broncos already eliminates them from serious Super Bowl consideration, no matter how much time Williams spends on the field in 2012. Is it too early to put in a request for a linebacker in next year’s draft?

Parting shot. And today’s parting shot is directed at a pro basketball player who isn’t sure a 400 percent raise to $10 million is befitting of his developing talent: Ah, JaVale McGee. You gotta love the guy. From his emphatic losing triple-double celebration to the confused look on his face during postgame interviews. The man represents everything the Mile High City would love to be remembered for, right? And now he wants to become Denver’s highest-paid player. Did I hear Brook Lopez recently was available? At least he wouldn’t come packaged with a platypus.

James, Centennial

Kick it with Kiz by writing mkiszla@denverpost.com. Or listen to him on the radio from 7-9 a.m. Monday through Friday at 93.7 FM and 1510 AM.

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